The day was hotter than your average Fall desert day. I’d have gotten sunstroke if I hadn’t worn my hat. The sky was crystal clear–you could see for miles once you left the traffic behind.

My guide was a local woman, L, who wasn’t as familiar with the location as I’d hope. I was sure, more than once, that this was a fool’s errand.

It took some getting to, and a very long walk to get to this temple–famous for its spring.

Everything was green, blue, grey and sandstone.

It’s customary to drink from the spring. It trickles at a constant rate out of solid rock and into a concrete basin with plastic pots for drinking. You knew you were at the real deal and not just some tourist trap.

The water tasted good with a slight, but not unpleasant, after-taste. It more than slaked my thirst. I was glad to fill my empty water bottle there as L had done.

The temple is beautiful, serene—worth the trek, and then the hike. The reptiles thought so too—no live dragons though, just skinks and their cousins.

I had a slight headache when I got home, but nothing major.

The effects of the water (still to be verified) only revealed itself in strange dreams at first.

Showering the next morning was as strange an experience as I’d ever had. I could see through my eyelids. Or that’s what it looked like.

My head pounded, so I closed my eyes, but I could see what I was doing; where everything was–if the taps were closed or not.

I was happier than I ought to have been. I was lower than I’d ever been. I thought I could glimpse truths I’d never seen before.

It had to have been the water. I had drunk it all. There was none left to test.

The effects lasted a day and half, leaving me feeling just a little down.

I tried getting to that temple again, just to test the water, you understand, but it’s not that easily found.

Perhaps we can only drink of the gods’ spring once.

Status: open

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